As computers become increasingly powerful and ubiquitous, users increasingly employ their computers for a broad variety of tasks. For example, in addition to traditional activities such as running word processing and database applications, users increasingly rely on their computers as an integral part of their daily lives. Programs to schedule activities, generate reminders, and provide rapid communication capabilities are becoming increasingly popular. Moreover, computers are increasingly present during virtually all of a person's daily activities. For example, hand-held computer organizers (e.g., PDAs) are more common, and communication devices such as portable phones are increasingly incorporating computer capabilities. Thus, users may be presented with output information from one or more computers at any time.
Accompanying the increasing use and portability of computers is an increasing desire to provide information to users through wireless and other communication channels. Advertisers are particularly interested in reaching computer users as such users often represent desirable target markets. Advertisers would like to provide advertisements to various computer and communication devices that are relevant to the users. Other groups in addition to advertisers may also want to disseminate information to computer users.
With the convergence of computerization, wireless capabilities, digitalization, and ease of dissemination, the amount of potential information that may be bombarded on individual users may prove too overwhelming. The sheer volume of information may prevent or discourage computer users from making any effort to examine the information and find what is immediately desirable or necessary. However, simply reducing the amount of information, or the number of information sources, is not an appropriate solution because the user loses access to information of potential interest.
In general, current solutions for selecting incoming information fail because they do not address the dynamic, immediate, and arbitrary desires and needs of a user. The solutions cannot be easily modified, extended, or shared by the user.
One possible solution is to simply ignore some or all available information, such as unsolicited information that is received. This solution is not always possible, however, and is often difficult and inconvenient. For example, it is difficult to ignore an audio message of moderate volume, especially when those messages are specifically designed to be difficult to ignore (e.g., by compressing the dynamic range so that the average volume is higher). Plus, rejecting all information robs the user of potentially important information in which the user may be interested.
Another solution is to select a set of information sources from which information (solicited and/or unsolicited) is permitted. This exclusionary practice is not is fully desirable because the user loses access to potentially desirable information from a source that may not be on the acceptable source list. Also, even with a small number of information sources, the user's ability to give continuous attention to multiple, or even a single information source, is limited. This is especially true if the user is to remain “in task” and not be distracted by inappropriate information. Junk mail filters used by conventional email programs attempt to filter unwanted bulk mailings by using keywords or user enumeration. These filters have the drawback in that the user must manually update desired or undesired sources to account for new sources.
Another drawback of conventional solutions is that the solutions are based on the underlying assumption that the user is stationary and in a static context, such as sitting at a desktop computer or sitting in front of a web-enabled television. The solutions do not take into account that the user's context may be dynamic and changing or evolving over time. Thus, the present-day solutions for filtering digital information are not easily ported to the portable computing environment such as portable computing devices, PDAs, communications devices, and wearable computing devices.
Users, on the other hand, may not mind receiving even unsolicited information (e.g., advertisements) if the information is received at a convenient time and made available in a non-intrusive manner. Much of this timing and convenience is dictated by the user's current context. The user's context can either limit or enhance their ability and desire to receive and process information. When the user is not interested in receiving a message, or the user is unable to receive a specific message because they are too busy, or the user is unable to accept a specific message due to the user's present environment or situation (such as the user's current information presentation system configuration), the context may simply dictate that the user is not interested or able to review any information.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved techniques that enable received information, including unsolicited information, to be received and presented in a timely and relevant manner to the computer user. Such techniques would be desirable for the user because the user will be made aware of potentially relevant information and beneficial for the information provider (such as an advertiser) because the user may not be as apt to simply ignore or discard the information. Instead, the user may want to experience (e.g. see, hear, smell, etc.) the advertisement when the user's context is suitable for reviewing the advertisement.
In addition to the general need for improved techniques to select appropriate information and present it in an appropriate manner, there are various specialized environments or situations which harbor additional problems or constraints. For example, existing computer games don't provide a complete gaming environment that reflects the user's detailed context, such as can be maintained or modeled by the user's characterization module. Thus, there is a need for computer games to provide enhanced functionality by using such modeled context information, such as to select appropriate game-related information or functionality based on the user's context and to present it in an appropriate manner.
In addition, in the area of computer-based augmented reality, there is a need for improved techniques to select appropriate information and present it in an appropriate manner. In particular, current technology is unable to dynamically augment reality by integrating virtual information (such as images, sounds, and other related information) with real world information (e.g., visible objects and audible sounds) without hardware clues. Maintaining an overlay, or visual mapping, of virtual objects on top of real-world objects is known as registration. For example, in an industrial setting an example of registration may involve superimposing a virtual image of a wire over the real-world view of the wire, and having that virtual wire remain properly associated with the real wire while the user's head is moving. Such registration can be facilitated by adding visual clues to the relevant environment, such as patterns of dots on a circuit board containing the wire. However, the need for such visual cues severely limits the usability of augmented reality. Another difficulty in managing the overlay of virtual information onto the real world involves presenting and formatting computer interactions controls without detracting from the user's experiencing of the real world.